


The End, Rewritten

by wtf_ellie



Series: Fixing Bad Media and Making it Better [2]
Category: The Last of Us, The Last of Us Part Two - Fandom
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, F/F, Frenemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:54:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtf_ellie/pseuds/wtf_ellie
Summary: Feeling terribly broken after the end of the Last of Us Part Two? Did you feel like there was nothing good to come out of the journey? Well, here's a resolution to that, the ending I believe Ellie, Dina, and Abby all deserved.
Relationships: Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & Abby
Series: Fixing Bad Media and Making it Better [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1370203
Comments: 8
Kudos: 134





	The End, Rewritten

She’d found her. After all this time, Ellie had finally found her. After all the pain, and the loss, and the suffering, she was here with who she’d been searching for right at her fingertips. Abby, despite being cut down, despite acknowledging who Ellie was, kept her eyes on another prisoner who was strung up. A part of Ellie, knife ready at her side, wanted to push her down and get this over with. But she watched.

Abby cut down this other person and picked him up nearly immediately after they fell to the ground.

“Abby?” his voice was dry and hoarse.

“I’ve got you, Lev.” Abby scooped him up into her arms and began to walk past Ellie. She stopped, for a moment. “There are boats, back here.” she moved her head for the other woman to follow. Ellie did so, no matter how hard she struggled to follow. She didn’t know why, she could have turned around with the Rattlers gone now. But she followed.

Abby began to lay Lev into one of the two boats that remained in the water. She looked over at Ellie and then nodded to the other boat. Ellie watched Abby as she walked over, she watched the care and gentleness she gave Lev each time she had to move him. It reminded her of her and her Potato. And Dina, whenever she’d wake up and have to move her.

Tired now, and missing home, Ellie slid her bag off and threw it into the boat. The movement would’ve been smooth if it hadn’t been for the wound on her stomach. She sucked in a sharp breath, threw one hand over the injury, and laid her bag in the boat. She leaned down to contain the pain, keep herself from having to feel it for too long, and removed her hand.

She looked down, to see if there was much blood, and paused. She took a step back, her head beginning to swim as she heard his words in her head.

_Reckon it’s easy to forget about it, sitting all comfy out here. What a joke._

That anger Ellie had been searching for suddenly returned. She felt it resurface and spread from the center of her chest to her fingertips. She glanced back at Abby who was untying her boat, about to slip out of Ellie’s hands again.

“I can’t let you leave.” Ellie said as she approached. “You know that.”

Abby glanced back now and shook her head. “I’m not doing this.”

Rather than stay put, Ellie ran up and grabbed a fistful of Abby’s hair. She threw the woman back, into the water, and pulled the gun she had tucked into her pants. When Abby pulled her head up and caught her breath, she didn’t move. The gun was right in her face, inches away, held by a foe she’d spared more than once. Ellie was silent as she stared down at Abby.

Abby who looked so frail and so tired and so weak.

“Listen, Ellie, I--”

“Shut the fuck up!” Ellie shouted as she cracked the pistol across Abby’s face. She splashed back into the water, but kept her hand up to keep Ellie from approaching. When she picked her head up, her eyes weren’t even focused on Ellie, but on the boat. On Lev. The woman who killed Joel, nearly killed her, nearly killed Dina, was gone. Her eyes were unrecognizable. And the anger Ellie felt rise to her chest, bubble and burn, suddenly stilled. It became serene as the ocean that lapped the shore. All because of Abby’s eyes.

Not because of how they looked, or changed, but how they would only focus on Ellie for a moment, as if to check how close the gun was, before they went back to Lev. Her eyes were glued to him despite the gun in her face, despite her imminent doom.

“Fucking look at me…” Ellie said through grit teeth in an effort to regain her courage. She tried to remember Tommy’s anger, tried to find it again. Abby didn’t do what she asked. “Abby!” Ellie shook the gun and cocked it, both hands holding the weapon now. The eyes she demanded be on her returned, now glossier than before. “I want you to look at me.” despite her words, Abby’s eyes still darted to Lev.

“Please…” Abby’s hand remained outstretched, but not hostile. “Please, don’t do this. He’s--”

“I don’t care!” Ellie winced at her own words that rang hollow in her mouth. “You…” she felt her lip begin to quiver and shake. The calmness in her stomach was a storm, but not one of anger and rage and hatred. She felt sick, she felt sad. 

She saw Joel playing guitar on the porch.

“Please, Ellie.”

She was back in that room again, with snow covering the windows and blood on the floor. A golf club. A broken man. Her own cries filling the air. She heard Joel screaming her name, begging her to come save him. She heard Tommy calling her weak, and cruel things said to her. She heard Jesse asking if she could let Abby go, Maria asking her to bring Tommy back, Dina begging her to not leave.

Despite the fact that she was in a room that had haunted her for two years, her anger couldn’t return. It wouldn’t return. It was gone because it felt wrong. It wasn’t her anger, not anymore.

She looked down again, into Abby’s eyes. She saw Joel, helpless and dying. She saw Nora and Mel and Owen and Jesse. She felt that same pain, that same weakness she’d felt while killing those people. While losing those people, losing herself.

And now she saw Tommy and felt like Tommy. A broken person on a path that blinded her from everything else. Blinded her from Dina and JJ. From happiness, from music, from Jackson. She wanted that, she wanted to be home with her family. She didn’t want this anymore, the uncertainty and the suffering and the heartache.

Whatever numbness that covered her body like a blanket for months suddenly disappeared and Ellie could hear and feel everything. She was aware. For the first time in years, Ellie felt like she could breathe. And she took the deepest breath of her life. 

When she threw down her weapon, she expected to hear it strike wood. But it splashed into the water and disappeared. She heard the sound of the waves she loved so much. She suddenly remembered she was on a beach and felt the heat of her sunburnt skin. She blinked, surprised to be back here, no longer hearing Joel’s cries, or feeling the chill of the room. Once she gained her bearings, her heart leapt in her chest. She expected Abby to move for the weapon, despite how it disappeared, to scramble towards it. A part of her wished for that, so desperately, so she could feel that anger again, and forget this pain.

Pain that had ruled her life.

But Abby remained still, her eyes now glued to Ellie.

“I’m not like you.” Ellie started out of nowhere, her voice small. She shrugged and pressed her lips together, a lump beginning to form in her throat. Her voice was stronger now. “I’m not like them. I can’t…” she pressed her hand to her forehead and pinched the skin hard, a shaky breath leaving her lips. “I am fucking done with this, and with you, and with fucking all of it. I fucking hate you for what you did.” She shook her head and swallowed hard. “I always will. You haunt my dreams. What you did to Joel is burned into the back of my eyelids and even the slightest thing reminds me of it. I can’t even fucking function!!!”

Ellie paused, unsure of where she was going with this, but didn’t stop.

“But I hate myself more for what I did. I want to blame you for it, for fucking everything I did and how I hurt those people… but I can’t. This is me now…” Abby’s hand lowered. Not that she wasn’t before, but it seemed like she was listening even harder now. Her eyes didn’t move to Lev. “But I don’t want to be this anymore. I refuse. I can’t… I can’t change what happened and I might never be able to sleep or--or do things normally but I can’t keep fucking chasing you.” she looked at her hands now, Joel playing guitar on the porch flashing into her mind.. “I want to go home, Abby.” now there was JJ and Dina. She looked up, her own eyes filled with tears. They sat there, staring at each other, until Ellie walked by Abby and grabbed her bag. She walked past the silent woman and went to Lev.

“What are you doing?!” Abby sounded panicked. She began to move forward and Ellie didn’t stop her. “Don’t--” Abby was going to yell at her to not hurt him, her eyes even moved to the where the gun was thrown, but she stopped when she saw there was no malicious intent in Ellie’s movements. Ellie held her hand out now, to Abby, completely still and calm.

“I’m helping you.” she grabbed some water and held it to his lips. “He doesn’t need to lose you. He doesn’t need to be…” she looked up at Abby and shook her head. She couldn’t say what she meant, but Abby nodded.

“Okay…” she came over to Ellie and Lev, and watched the young boy’s face. No longer did either of them look at each other as a threat. “I have to get him out of here.”

“I have food and water in my backpack…” Ellie mumbled and began to slide it off. “Enough for you two to get out of here, safely. At least back to your sailboat so you can get wherever you need to go.”

Abby looked at the boats in front of them.

“We can’t get back there. I don’t even know if we can get to where we need to go in these boats, but going through Rattler territory, even if most of them are gone--”

“I’ll help you.”

“What?”

Ellie didn’t repeat her words. She didn’t know if she could. She was worried if she did, she’d take them back. She took gauze from her backpack and wrapped it around a wound of Lev’s.

“Despite how much you hate Joel, you remind me of him.”

Silence.

“And you remind me of my dad…”

They stared at each other, for a moment, before Ellie finished. She gently stroked his head and shook her own. God… is this how Joel felt with her? She dropped her hand and looked up at Abby.

“You’ll need to carry him. I can protect both of you, but I need you to follow everything I say…”

“Okay.” Abby moved to Lev and pulled him into her arms.

“We can’t take breaks.”

“I’m getting him out of here.” Abby’s determination was enough to stop Ellie from doubting her. “I won’t fall behind.” 

Abby didn’t, the entire time they moved. They pushed through what little bit of enemy territory there was, through Infected nests, and nearly lost their lives a handful of times. If it hadn’t been for Abby watching Ellie and Ellie watching Abby, they wouldn’t have made it ten steps. When they finally reached Abby’s sailboat relief struck them both.

Ellie helped Abby get up onto the sailboat and handed her Lev. She stepped inside, set him down and came back out. She looked down at Ellie, who looked up at her, and they sat in silence. Abby seemed to search for words, while Ellie worked on trying to not bite her tongue. It felt like rubbing her cheek on sandpaper, but she spoke.

“Wherever you go, don’t let anyone else…” she wasn’t sure what she was saying, but she searched Abby’s face for the words. “Don’t let anyone else be like us.” Abby nodded and turned to leave. Ellie did the same.

“Hey.” Abby called. Ellie stopped, but didn’t turn. “Thank you.” she kept walking and felt tears stream down her face.

As Ellie walked back to Jackson, her final night with Joel continued to flash through her mind. At first, it was only the strumming of his guitar, that beautiful melody. And then she saw Joel, sitting alone, with a mug of hot coffee next to him, basking in the moonlight. She could almost feel the crisp, cold air on her skin despite the heat that swirled around her.

_I don’t think if I can ever forgive you._

Tears fell down her face as she sang that song Joel had taught her so many years ago. She cried for the ones she’d lost, and the parts of herself that had been lost, but she also cried at the relief she felt lifted from her chest as she walked away from Abby. As she felt she made good on those words she’d said to Joel.

_But I would like to try._

When she made it back to the Farmhouse, she already knew what awaited her inside. But she still had to stop and see. It felt like it would shut the final door on taking responsibility for the things she’d done. And leaving Dina and JJ was one of them. She walked up to the house and her hands shook as she pushed the door open.

She didn’t make a sound as she saw the house stripped clean, everything gone. She walked around it, ran her fingers over the tables and the counters. She sighed as she made her way upstairs and found their bedroom empty, clean sheet sitting on top of the bed. She stood in the doorway as she watched her and Dina dance across the room, JJ held in both their arms, and smiles as bright as the sun on both their faces. 

With a sigh, Ellie dropped her bag there and went into the art room. Everything of hers was still in there, neatly set. She ran her fingers along the paintings of JJ and Dina, a knot in her chest beginning to twist. She placed her hand over that knot and held tightly. She could feel it rising up her throat, the tears in her eyes beginning to fill. She looked at the painting of Dina and it was like a dam broke loose. Ellie fell to her knees and cradled her head in her own hands.

She sat there, for some time, before her eyes fell upon the guitar case. She pulled it towards her and ran her hand along it. It felt like home, familiar and safe. She pulled out the guitar, her finger stroking the moth, and began to play. She strummed until the storm in her chest settled.

Then she played something familiar and sang.

“If I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself.” Ellie paused to wipe her eyes and take a calming breath. She strummed for a bit before she began again. “Everything I have found dear, I’ve not found by myself.” Ellie stopped for a moment and heard the front door open and slam shut. She froze in place and glanced over at her bag. Her heart began to speed up in her chest as she began to wonder the worst.

Was it an infected? Or a Hunter?

But before Ellie could decide what to do, someone called out.

“Hello?” oh, Ellie knew that voice. How could she ever forget it? It was like music to her ears to hear it after all this time. She didn’t know how she managed to go a day without it.

“Dina?” she called back, her heartbeat not calming when there was no answer. Instead, there were steps coming up the stairs, slow and deliberate. She saw her black hair first and then her face. Ellie could have fallen to pieces right there, she surely felt like it. “Hey…” Ellie mumbled, setting the guitar down. Dina turned to look at her and knit her eyebrows together.

“Hey.” she responded. “I was just looking for Ollie… have you seen it?” She finished walking up the stairs and placed her hands in her pockets.

“No…” Ellie shook her head, her eyes focused solely on Dina. It could’ve been sitting right in this room and she wouldn’t have noticed it.

“Did you… do what you needed to do?”

“Yeah…”

“And?”

“It was what I needed… I let her go.” Ellie set the guitar to the side and took a deep breath. “I…” she didn’t know where to start and the tears begging to fall weren’t helping. “I never wanted to let you…” she placed her hands together and looked at them, her head ducked low.

Dina remained quiet, but moved closer. She stood in the doorway now. 

“I know I chose wrong.” she shut her eyes and shook her head. “But, it was the right thing to do. There was a… a group of slavers and they had Abby. I saved her and even though I could’ve ended it-- I… I didn’t.” Ellie took another deep breath, her lip now trembling. “I would do it again, Dina. I feel… alive.” she opened her eyes, still focused on her hands, and saw tears fall onto them. “I just wish I didn’t have to lose you because you… you are…” a single hand covered both of hers and another cupped her cheek. Ellie looked up to Dina standing before her, tears in her own eyes.

Ellie leaned into Dina’s hand and kissed her palm. She brought her other hand up to her lips and kissed it, too. 

“I love you.” Ellie whispered.

“I love you.” Dina smiled and leaned down. She kissed Ellie’s forehead before kissing her tear stained cheeks then finally her. She ran her hand through Ellie’s hair and pulled her close. “Hey,” Dina said while pulling back. She looked at Ellie, who would never take her eyes off of Dina again, and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Wanna play me a song? No one in Jackson has your talent.” Ellie reached up and wiped away the tears from Dina’s eyes. She laughed and nodded.

“Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I believe the Last of Us Part Two was a good game, minus the epilogue. It broke my heart and not in a satisfying way, so I decided to remedy that. I feel like this is a far more cohesive ending, one that ties everything together and give the player/reader a far better pay off than what was given. Yes, there is still pain, but there's resolution and a chance to breathe and be happy.


End file.
